SAN ANTONIO – It's a type of blood that's saving the lives of people all over the world, but the general public may not know much about it.
A 16-year-old San Antonio leukemia patient said he owes his life to a cord blood transplant too.
In 2014, Jathan Rivas was diagnosed with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia. The aggressive cancer didn't respond to chemo, so Jathan's doctor, Dr. Troy Quigg, with Methodist Hospital and Methodist Children's Hospital, turned to cord blood, the extra blood that stays in the placenta after a baby is born.
"In these circumstances, we always turn to cord blood as a potential source of blood stem cells that we can use for a transplant," Quigg said.
The cord blood transplant saved Jathan's life. Now, he's leukemia-free and feeling much better.
"I can actually, you know, be at home and stuff with my mom and sister and brother," Jathan said, smiling.
It's all thanks to a donor and the network of companies that collect and store cord blood until it's needed. Once cord blood is collected at Methodist Hospital or Methodist Children's Hospital, it is taken to the Gen Cure lab in San Antonio, where it's checked, processed, and then frozen.
Methodist Hospital on Thursday celebrated 10 years of donating patient cord blood to Gen Cure, saving patients with cancer, blood disorders, diabetes, heart disease and more.
"There's a big goal of making the general public and expecting mothers aware of the opportunity to donate," Quigg said.
Today, more than 25,000 patients worldwide have received cord blood transplants. Quigg said he hopes soon-to-be parents will continue to go through the screening process to become cord blood donors before their babies are born.
Otherwise, the precious, life-saving blood goes to waste.